With the NFL set to open this year’s regular season in Australia, commissioner Roger Goodell revealed another trans-Pacific stop he’d like to see: Tokyo.
While attending Fanatics Fest in New York on Thursday, Goodell told Sportico he’d be interested in holding a regular-season game in Japan.
Asked if there was one new international market where he’d like to stage a game, Goodell responded, “I got about 10.”
But then he elaborated. “We did have a game in Tokyo,” the commissioner said, “but it was a preseason game, so we want to do a regular-season game now.”
The NFL will play nine international regular-season games this year, beginning with the season opener Sept. 10 in Melbourne, Australia, where the San Francisco 49ers will play the Los Angeles Rams. The slate also includes three games in London and dates in Paris, Munich, Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro and Madrid.
Over the past two decades, the NFL has made international expansion a league priority. The NFL International Series began in earnest in 2007 with regular-season games in London and has picked up steam in recent years, with Goodell saying last fall he could envision as many as 16 games abroad every season.
